


Pain in my ASCII

by FallLover



Category: ReBoot (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Hopeful Ending, Anxiety, Character Study, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, First Time, Hurt/Comfort, References to Depression, References to Sex, Relationship Study, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-23 04:41:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20002477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallLover/pseuds/FallLover
Summary: A relationship/character study of AndrAIa and Enzo, after the events of "Game Over".





	Pain in my ASCII

When they restarted the game, Enzo was barely conscious. The injury was bad. The game tried to repair his code and keep it messed up at the same time – something about a foreign sprite trying to mesh with the game, probably. AndrAIa picked the fighter this time, while Frisket looked after Enzo.

She was more brutal than she'd been in a while as she fought the user.

They ended up in an unfamiliar system. It was in _okay_ shape.

But it wasn’t Mainframe. It wasn’t home. And it didn’t have a way to get there.

They found a doctor, who was also a bit of a weapons technician. There was a lot of damage. Being in the game, moving, and going through a reset made the injury a lot worse.

AndrAIa used most of their stored credits for surgery.

Sprites in the system tended to self-modify for combat, so that's what the eye was made for, after a fashion. AdrAIa thought it was a good idea. She had her throwing weapons, her gun, her nails, and other weapons. Much as she liked and respected Enzo, he didn't have much to defend himself with, other than a malfunctioning keytool.

Enzo was pretty out of it, but Frisket didn't leave his side while he recovered. AndrAIa worked for credits to keep a roof over their heads, and for Enzo's pain meds. When Enzo woke up, AndrAIa taught him how to use the gun. She knew how to aim, how to hit her targets. The weapon was different than what she was used to, but the basics were there. He'd build up the muscles for kickback.

Enzo was a bit nervous about it at first, but he also liked being a threat for once, in and out of games. He liked being intimidating. He was ashamed of losing so badly. Of losing their home.

AndrAIa didn’t tell him that it wasn’t his fault. But she blamed herself for not stopping him.

They jumped into another game. No Dot was there to stop or encourage them. None of the local sprites apparently batted an eye at two little sprites going for it, and the ones who joined them in the game didn’t get in their way.

Enzo wasn’t as playful as usual. He took the game so seriously that he snapped at AndrAIa and she snapped right back, and they almost lost, even with the other sprites on hand.

They ended up in a different system. Another _all right_ system, with no ports to the net. Enzo fell to his knees, tears in his eyes.

"I failed."

AndrAIa was so surprised, she nearly forgot her anger.

He looked up at her and glanced at Frisket. "I'm so sorry."

"We'll get home," AndrAIa said, kneeling down beside him. "We will. We always find a way, right?"

Enzo looked at her. It was odd to see tears from the fake eye, and his scar looked cartoonishly large on his young face. It made his grief more cutting - a visual reminder of what they'd lost. He leaned into her and she hugged him. They found shelter for the night, using some of their credit stash.

They talked.

It was a long talk. Enzo apologized. AndrAIa accepted it. They left with the next game.

But the game brought them right back.

They did more small jobs for credits, leaning on each other, afraid of the odd tenuousness of their new goal: go home. What else was there, after all?

Enzo was quiet and sullen at turns, but he was oddly kinder than normal to AndrAIa. Making up to her for something he never could.

At night they clung to each other, terrified of what the future might hold.

Three games later, Enzo broached the topic they'd been avoiding: what if they got back and everything was gone? If Megabyte succeeded, and destroyed everything?

AndrAIa refused to give up. "Dot and Mouse are smart. They have this. Phong knows what he's doing."

Some nights she said it to comfort herself as much as him.

Cycles passed. They get taller. Their voices dropped. AndrAIa collected weapons and skills for fun as much as for survival. Enzo trained with any physical combat fighters he could find, building up muscle. He didn't want to be small and weak, and have people laugh when they noticed the gun at his side.

They celebrated birthdays in diners, on street corners, in the middle of particularly fun games, or just difficult ones when they needed to keep their spirits up.

Every birthday made AndrAIa feel more alive, a reminder of how much she spent outside her game.

Every birthday made Enzo feel more like a failure. Every second he hadn’t gotten them home.

AndrAIa had them both play with Frisket almost religiously to keep the dog's spirits up. To wear away at that too hard look on Enzo's face. He smiled less than he used to. But somehow when he _did_ smile it felt more worth it. More powerful, for what it cost.

AndrAIa didn’t really notice it at first. Enzo smiled whenever he saw her after a long day of training. When she scored a winning shot in the games. When she showed him some new trick she learned.

He flushed more when she complimented his more noticeable muscles. When they wrestled – extra practice – he could sometimes hold his own. He was taller now, and fighting sprites didn’t laugh when he asked for practice with them. There were still smiles. Questions of whether he could handle it - usually from the perspective that Enzo was an outsider and an unknown, not that he was clearly too weak. But he always handled it, no matter how many times he lost or how much he still had to learn.

Sometimes AndrAIa let him win, and they'd be tangled on the floor, laughing and sweating and breathing hard.

One night they were rolled over, AndrAIa on his chest, Enzo shaking in laughter, and their eyes locked.

AndrAIa kissed him on the lips, and Enzo hugged her to him. They were clumsy and awkward, and Enzo apologized a lot.

"You don't need to be sorry," she whispered to him. "As long as you're here, it's okay. As long as it's _you_."

"Same," he said as he buried his face in her hair. She was growing it out and he loved how soft it was. It smelled like the sea. Like the memory of a game where a beautiful sprite had looked at him and thought he was interesting and fun and worthy of respect. Where he’d made his first real friend. "Same, AndrAIa."

She kissed him again.

Curled together afterward, they laughed nervously about it.

"That was... fun?" Enzo offered.

AndrAIa smiled and rubbed her nose in his neck, making him laugh. She loved his laugh. Loved the feel of his skin. His smell – like places she’d never been to. The promise of something new. "It was."

"And I... really didn't hurt you or anything?"

"Enzo," AndrAIa said, sitting up so she could hold his face in her hands. "You didn't hurt me. I love that you ask, though. It's good to ask. But believe me when I reply, okay?"

Enzo swallowed and nodded, "Sorry."

"No sorry." She kissed him, then rubbed her face against his cheek. He was starting to get stubbly. "I love you."

Enzo held her tighter. "I love you, too, AndrAIa."

They'd said it as jokes in the past, after a fashion. As teases. But recently every time they said it, it was serious. Heartfelt. This time more so than ever.

Enzo had always been happy to pounce on Bob or romp with Frisket, give Dot a hug, and he still trained with every tough they met, but around AndrAIa he was almost skittish, like he was afraid he'd break her. He never saw her as fragile before, and he didn't, now. She was the strongest person he knew. That used to be Bob, but Bob... Bob left. Welman Matrix died. Dot was gone. People he loved tended to disappear. Enzo was afraid that if he clung too much, AndrAIa would be gone, too.

This relationship was new – or at least this part of it – and Enzo didn't want to get it wrong, like he screwed up so much. AndrAIa was his best friend, and he respected the hell out of her. She could do so much better... They met so many other sprites in their travels. Smart, funny, brave, attractive… She had better options. And he kept expecting her to realize it.

He voiced that thought once. They had teamed up with another sprite in a game earlier: Drifter. Drifter was a lot like Mouse: strong, beautiful, tenacious, flirty, smart. She flirted with both of them, and _meant_ it.

Enzo was embarrassed, but the only person he ever thought of like that was AndrAIa, so he wasn’t embarrassed in the ‘I’m considering my options’ way, but in the ‘I’m not used to this’ way. But he'd understand if AndrAIa...

"She was hot," AndrAIa said, flicking her long hair back over her shoulder. Enzo loved when she did that. She showed off her arms, which more muscular these days. AndrAIa smiled. "But she's not _you_."

Enzo flushed at the way she looked at him. She loved the darker green on his cheeks. But she took pity on him and pulled a file out of her belt. "She did give me this, though."

"What is it?"

"Some things you and I could try."

She uploaded it for him, and he processed. And the green on his face got even darker.

AndrAIa rubbed his bicep, comforting. "We don't have to, lover. It's okay."

“No, I mean... I want to," Enzo said, glancing at her nervously, but he was interested. "Honest. It's just... _wow_...”

AndrAIa grinned. "Right?"

"I feel like you and Mouse would get along even better these days," Enzo said. He paused. Mouse. Home. His smiled faded. They never completely forgot their goal. Their grief. Their dread at what might be waiting. But sometimes it wasn't quite near the surface. Which made remembering harder.

AndrAIa smiled. "Maybe we both would. Something to look forward to when we get back."

When. Never _if_.

 _When_.

Enzo smiled thinly at her, and AndrAIa pushed him down onto their latest bed so they could try that file. She was even more grateful that she had it to distract them.

When they lay tangled together later, in a quiet corner of a quiet system, they listened to each other breathe and forgot, for a while, that anything else mattered.

They grew more confident around each other. Enzo pulled her into more kisses, sometimes tight hugs, to remember that someone else was there. She stole more hugs and snuggles from him when they sat together. He wrapped his arm around her and sometimes she wondered when his arms got so big, his shoulders so broad.

He'd become an expert with the gun. They still practiced together. Her seastars and trident against his aim.

They swapped weapons. For curiosity, boredom, preparedness. They were a team, and you never knew what to expect.

She nulled a user with a good jab of her trident, and leapt into Enzo's arms after. They'd been kissing for seconds before they surfaced and Enzo said, "You are so beautiful."

Sometimes she just liked to watch him lift things. To see his more obvious muscles tense. Enzo's guardian uniform was a full body blanket, but when he switched to an armless shirt on a dare, he saw the way her eyes lit up and he never went back. The tight pants helped, too.

Enzo, on the other hand, liked anything AndrAIa wore. It wasn't so much that he didn't care when she tried something knew. It was that he liked her no matter what. She was beautiful, charismatic, kind. She was more optimistic, patient, and empathetic, and she could never do anything to truly piss him off. They had spats like every friend and couple, but always stuck together.

Enzo tried her patience, too. He grew sharper. He ended up apologizing more and more. Sometimes, he admitted, he felt like that was the only thing he ever did, and he wasn't even good at it.

He still insisted she would be better off with someone else. He compared himself to every sprite they passed, easily jealous.

Despite how she seemed like a fangirl who could see no wrong when she was young, AndrAIa knew that Enzo had faults. She still loved him. She just called him out on his crap.

Why did they stay together? Even considering their goal, AndrAIa fell in love, Enzo was focused, and grew angrier and angrier.

She loved him, obviously. He was fun, he liked exploring. He was a challenge, always expecting the best of himself and those around him. He loved Frisket. He loved AndrAIa. He was loyal, and so often kind. He was angrier at himself than he could ever be with anyone else, blaming himself for not being good enough. To stop Megabyte. To win the game. To get them home. To find Bob. To be worthy of AndrAIa and Frisket's affection.

What did Enzo say to keep her? What did he do? Sure, he was attractive, but there were other attractive sprites.

Childhood infatuation only got you so far. After all, they had to spend a long, long time in each other's almost exclusive company. And Frisket didn't talk.

Did they make friends along the way? Despite his youthful curiosity as Enzo, Matrix was taciturn and a bit of a loner, although when prompted enough, he did chat easily with people he respected, with sprites he trained with. When he talked and wasn't angry, he was even-tempered and thoughtful. Discussing game strategies, learning things he never experienced, probably not winning them all. Losses had to have hurt, but at a certain point, they stopped losing. Maybe even had fun with it, judging by “Pantsu Hebi X”.

They learned how to work together, how to make the most of things, how to figure out who they were as adults.

They were friends first. Comrades in arms next. AndrAIa loved Enzo almost from the get-go. Enzo was infatuated, too, but mostly wasn't used to someone believing in him.

He never lost that. In Mainframe, he was a known quantity: one of the few sprites left, Dot's brother, only known child sprite. In the new systems, he was always an outsider. Suspect. An easy mark. He made up for it by getting stronger. But that only meant building more of a shell around himself. His world was Mainframe. That meant AndrAIa and Frisket and Glitch. And that's all. His one-on-one attitude would be chalked up to having a solid, open friendship and relationship with a good friend and lover, who encouraged him. And maybe all those he trained with. Quiet people who practiced politeness to make up for being taken as musclebound idiots.

AndrAIa was used to being an outsider. She was alone in her game. In Mainframe, she was a guest. A tourist. Wherever Enzo went, she went. New places were like that: new places. She cared about people in Mainframe. It was familiar. But it wasn't her world like it was Enzo's.

She'd always gone out of her way to introduce herself to others once she met Enzo and realized other sprites were a thing. And AndrAIa suddenly in her own element rather than Enzo being in his was a new world. She flourished. She was curious, thoughtful. Fun. For Enzo, this was about getting home. For AndrAIa, it was an adventure with the person she cared about most.

They were each other's security blankets, in their own ways. Enzo, the first person she'd cared for. AndrAIa, the best person he knew.

On quiet nights they lay together in the dark and talked. More of their lives had been spent together than not, but that didn't mean there was nothing left to learn about each other.

Enzo always talked about home. Dot. Bob. Phong. His dad, who he only sort of remembered.

AndrAIa talked about people she met during the day while Enzo was off doing whatever he did. Ingame sprites she’d run into when they weren’t together. Did they ever want to leave?

Enzo loved listening to her talk, particularly about philosophy. He was getting to be a better strategist, but the big things, stuff Phong or Bob would talk about, that was beyond him. AndrAIa got it, though, and she was amazing.

AndrAIa knew Enzo thought the world of her. Even if he never said it – and he voiced it plenty, always ready to say how amazing she was at something – it was the way he looked at her, like she was a whole system in one person. She wished he noticed more that she got tired sometimes. That she didn’t know everything, couldn’t do everything, couldn’t _be_ there for everything. And maybe he did. Maybe that’s part of why he became what he was. For that time AndrAIa didn’t save him. For the times _he_ couldn’t save them, either. For the times he didn’t want to be a burden. He’d never have voiced it as one of her flaws, though. Just a flaw in himself that had to be fixed with more weapons training and more physical combat training and more strategy training and more and _more_.

AndrAIa found more of those files that Drifter had given her. They needed the stress relief and relaxation. Sometimes she felt that Enzo was a string pulled so taught he’d break. He seemed to break so many times. But he always came back. She brought him back, when he couldn’t do it himself. On those days when AndrAIa had her breaks, Enzo was there, too, with apologies and her favorite things to eat and suggestions for things to see and do. Whatever she needed. Anything. Promises that he’d fix it, whatever it was. He never seemed to get that just being there was enough. She’d kiss his eyelids and tell him that and he loved it but he never believed it and it hurt, but it meant she could kiss him and he’d listen and maybe that was enough sometimes.

And if they held each other tightly at night, in strange systems with Frisket keeping watch nearby, hoping they’d get where they were going the next game, well… That’s what they had each other for.


End file.
